#14: Joining peaq network to build the machine economy

Next week, I will be starting a new endeavor, joining the leadership team of peaq .

I will be working together with a team guided by good values, ambition, perseverance and a relentless drive to make the future one to look out for in pleasant anticipation.

And as always, this next step in my career, which from an outsider's view can look like quite a colorful painting, can be derived back to the first principles that served as an underlying framework in every decision I have made. It is a decision for the people, and the fulfillment of the promise I gave to myself to contribute to making Web3 real.

To understand why I move away from the investment side to join this particular project Bertelsmann Investments backed through Generative Ventures , we need to go back 7000 years.

Economies

A long time ago, a farmer traded wheat with a potter for clay pots. You must be thinking I am out of my mind to bring this up when I am informing my network about the next step in my career, but this rudimentary exchange was the seed of what would become one of humanity’s most magnificent constructs. The Economy.

As someone who has a background in political economy, every step in my career has always been related to this fascinating area of human interaction. And the reason is simple: Economies, and decisions derived from economic goals, have decided the direction our world has been heading towards for centuries.

Back to the story; A farmer would exchange wheat for some clay pots, and this barter system worked well in small communities. However, as societies grew and trade expanded, the limitations of barter became apparent.

5000 years ago, in ancient Mesopotamia, the first inklings of an organized economy took shape. People realized that by specializing in certain tasks, they could produce goods more efficiently. This specialization required a system of trade. The Sumerians, brilliant innovators, developed one of the earliest known forms of currency, which were simple clay tokens. These tokens, exchanged for goods like grain or livestock, simplified transactions and marked the birth of money, the tool that fueled economic interaction from that point on. Tokens standardized trade, facilitating transactions over larger distances and among strangers.

Approximately 2500 years later, the first minted coins appeared in Lidya, a place in modern-day Turkey. These coins, stamped with images and backed by the state, provided a standardized medium of exchange. Markets blossomed across the ancient world. In Athens, the agora buzzed with merchants trading everything from olive oil to pottery, while in Rome, the Forum became a bustling center of commerce.

During the Pax Romana, from 27 BCE - 180 CE, the Roman Empire's extensive road network and relative peace allowed for unprecedented economic integration. Goods flowed from one end of the empire to the other: spices from India, silks from China, and grains from Egypt.

The economy was no longer a local affair; it had become a vast, interconnected system. It has become the integral aspect of human wealth, progress and rising prosperity for the human species.

As the Roman Empire waned, Europe entered the medieval period, characterized by feudalism. The economy became more localized, centered around manors and agricultural production. Yet, trade persisted. The Hanseatic League, a powerful alliance of merchant guilds in Northern Europe, dominated trade across the Baltic and North Seas from the 13th to the 17th centuries. They exchanged timber, fish, and furs, laying the groundwork for modern commerce.

The 15th and 16th centuries heralded the Age of Exploration. European powers like Spain, Portugal, and later England and the Netherlands, embarked on voyages across uncharted oceans. Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage to the Americas opened new economic frontiers. The influx of precious metals from the New World fueled European economies and led to the rise of mercantilism, an economic policy that emphasized national wealth through strict regulation of trade and accumulation of gold and silver.

The industrialization of economies

Technology has significantly started to transform economic interaction around the 18th century. The Industrial Revolution transformed economies from agrarian-based to industrial powerhouses. Britain led the charge with innovations like the steam engine, spinning jenny, and power loom. Factories sprang up, cities expanded, and production soared. Between 1800 and 1900, Britain’s GDP per capita increased by over 400%. But how was this possible?

This was possible because those that fueled industrial growth and powered the economy tapped into a network of resources and a nurturing support systems that allowed innovation and commerce to flourish, as this growth yielded advantages for all parties involved. The authorities made money through taxes, the people got access to cheaper and better products, and entrepreneurs were rewarded for building the economy with unprecedented wealth accumulation opportunities.

Railways and steamships revolutionized transportation, shrinking the world and making global trade more feasible. The concept of free markets gained traction with Adam Smith’s seminal work, "The Wealth of Nations" (1776), which argued for the invisible hand of the market guiding economic prosperity.

The 20th century saw the rise of multinational corporations and global supply chains. The aftermath of World War II brought the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, establishing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to promote global economic stability. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), later succeeded by the World Trade Organization (WTO), aimed to reduce trade barriers. Economic growth in the Western world has become the north star for every government, as it guided its people to unknown territories in terms of living standards, live expectancy, and ultimately, domestic stability and peace.

However, the century was not without turmoil. The Great Depression of the 1930s saw global GDP fall by 15%, and unemployment rates soared. The world learned the hard lesson of economic interdependence. Post-war, the Marshall Plan helped revive Europe’s shattered economies, and the United States emerged as an economic superpower, heralding the most peaceful decades of mankind.

Entering the 21st century, the digital revolution transformed the economy yet again. The rise of the internet and information technology created new industries and transformed existing ones. E-commerce giants like Amazon and Alibaba redefined retail, while Silicon Valley became the epicenter of innovation. With these multinational enterprises, we had interconnected economic systems that became so powerful that on many occasions one can argue they paralyzed the “invisible hand” of the market. But this is another story. One thing is certain: Technology has allowed people to create economies that guided humanity to the most peaceful, most healthy, most convenient and most stable decades in the history of our species.

But the economy has never been alone.

Money and the economy

Just like our economic systems transformed, so did the monetary frameworks surrounding them. The clay coins we mentioned above obviously where just the beginning. The rise of paper money and banking for instance had its roots in China, where during the Tang Dynasty (618-903), paper money made its debut, providing a lighter, more convenient alternative to heavy metal coins. People started to use centrally provided means of exchange to make economic activity more convenient a long, long time ago.

By the 17th century, European economies were also embracing paper currency, backed by precious metals like gold and silver. This era saw the rise of banking institutions, such as the Bank of England (founded in 1694), which played crucial roles in managing national debts and issuing banknotes.

A currency always was as valuable as the asset it was backed with, and the 19th century took this to the next level, marking the adoption of the gold standard, where countries tied their currencies to a specific amount of gold. This system created a stable international monetary environment, facilitating global trade and investment as gold as a scarce asset with a high stock to flow ratio gave money credibility beyond the centralized approval of the state. The British pound, linked to gold, became the world's dominant currency, reflecting the United Kingdom’s economic and colonial power.

When World War II drew to a close, representatives from 44 nations convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, came together to create a new international monetary system. The Bretton Woods Agreement established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to promote global economic stability. The US dollar, backed by gold at $35 per ounce, became the anchor of this system. Other currencies were pegged to the dollar, fostering stability and growth in the post-war era.

However, by the late 1960s, the Bretton Woods system faced significant challenges. The US was experiencing high inflation and deficits due to the Vietnam War and domestic spending. As confidence in the dollar waned, countries began demanding gold in exchange for their dollar reserves. In 1971, President Richard Nixon announced the suspension of the dollar’s convertibility into gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. This event, known as the Nixon Shock, marked the transition to a system of floating exchange rates.

In the wake of Bretton Woods, the US sought to maintain its economic dominance by securing the dollar’s position as the world’s primary reserve currency. In the 1970s, a series of agreements with major oil-producing nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, tied the US dollar to oil. These agreements stipulated that oil would be traded exclusively in dollars, compelling other countries to hold large reserves of dollars to purchase oil. This arrangement, known as the petrodollar system, reinforced the dollar's global supremacy and linked the US currency to vital energy resources. Much of the turmoil we have seen in the last decades is directly related to the fact that the hegemonic status of the US was inevitably linked to states using their currency to pay for oil and natural gas all around the world.

Monetary systems and economic systems are intertwined. But there is one difference: Economic systems are decentralized by nature. Monetary systems are not.

The Intertwined Path of Economies and Monetary Systems

What does all of this tell us? The story of human civilization is deeply entwined with the evolution of both the economy and the monetary systems that support it. Historically, these two aspects have been closely related, yet fundamentally distinct.

The economy has largely been a more or less decentralized network of trade and production, while monetary systems have remained centrally governed and regulated. This dichotomy has shaped the trajectory of global development and continues to do so today.

The global economy, driven by billions of independent actors—businesses, individuals, and local markets—operates on principles of decentralization. Goods and services flow across borders, powered by the collective actions of diverse participants. Despite this decentralized nature, the monetary system has always been the domain of centralized authorities. Central banks, such as the Federal Reserve in the United States, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of Japan, control money supply and implement monetary policy to stabilize and guide national economies. I would even go as far as the monetary system being the major tool of control over the economy.

The Bretton Woods system epitomized this centralized approach. By pegging currencies to the US dollar, which was in turn backed by gold, it created a structured and stable international monetary framework. However, the abandonment of the gold standard in 1971 marked a significant shift. The US dollar, and by extension the global monetary system, became fiat-based, relying on government backing and commodities trading rather than intrinsic value, a decision that was taken for economic reasons, and by a centralized institution: The US government.

How the internet took decentralization away

In the 21st century, the digital revolution has introduced new layers of complexity. Big Tech companies—Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Alibaba—have amassed unprecedented power, centralizing significant portions of global economic activity. In 2020, the five largest tech companies in the US accounted for nearly 24% of the S&P 500's market capitalization. These corporations not only dominate their respective markets but also influence global supply chains, consumer behavior, and even public policy.

This centralization poses several risks. Firstly, it can stifle competition, reducing innovation and driving up prices. Secondly, the vast data these companies collect gives them enormous control over information and consumer preferences, which can lead to manipulation. Thirdly, their dominance can distort labor markets, as seen with the gig economy, where workers often face precarious employment conditions. And finally, it creates massive single points of failure.

On the bright side, all the value created in the digital world has so far been created by humans for humans, and this is a fundamental hedge against any sort of tyranny, because no matter how powerful a monopoly or oligopoly is, it always depends on human value creation. We feel that this is declining as the global financial system is increasingly strained. Central banks, through mechanisms like quantitative easing, have injected trillions of dollars into the economy to counteract financial crises. While this has kept economies afloat, it has also inflated asset prices, benefiting large corporations and wealthy individuals more than the average person. For example, the Federal Reserve's balance sheet grew from $900 billion in 2008 to over $7 trillion by 2021, largely benefiting stock markets and real estate, which are primarily owned by the affluent. But again, at least humans are still creating value for humans, even though for a smaller group.

Rising Factor Costs and Living Standards

The current global economic situation, combined with prevailing monetary regimes, has led to rising factor costs across the board. Wages, raw materials, and energy prices have been increasing, partly driven by supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures. The inflation we are seeing now is not only eroding purchasing power, making it harder for people to maintain their living standards, it also has shown the peculiarity that all factor costs are rising, but wages are not growing at a competitive rate.

The challenges are manifold. Stagnant wages combined with rising costs mean diminished savings and increased financial insecurity. Home prices have surged, with the median home price in the US reaching $374,900 in 2021, up from $239,900 in 2014. Rent has also become more expensive, consuming a larger share of incomes. Additionally, healthcare and education costs have skyrocketed, further straining household budgets.

W10Her01 D01Es Th1s Le0a1d Us?

While technology enables us to do the unimaginable, this unimaginable more likely than not will lead to an unavoidable dystopia. Our lives, experiences, entertainment, leisure, and consumption, will have to move to an alternative space, a virtual realm, in which products and experiences are infinitely scalable, and continue to be affordable. In the virtual realm, this is the notion of the metaverse. If we believe that the wealth gap is substantial today, just wait how it will look 10 years from now. The chances are >0 that the majority of our species will spend the majority of their time and money in the virtual space in the absence of economic incentives that allow us to continue living the way we are used to. Ultimately, resources are scarce, and only when value is created by humans, it can be disseminated amongst humans. The main problem, however, is less obvious. It is a lack of ownership.

Question: Would you feel comfortable allowing a corporation, a government, or any other construct to eradicate your existence with the push of a button?

Yeah, being banned from X, Instagram or Facebook sucks, but what if 3/4 of your life, your relationships, your entertainment, is happening in a real world like digital experience? Do you really want your identity to be owned by someone else? I recon not.

The new physical realm

As technology advances, we stand on the brink of a new era where autonomously acting economic actors—AI agents and semi- (or completely) conscious robots—will play a significant role. These entities are poised to take over a substantial portion of economic value creation. A study by McKinsey Global Institute estimates that by 2030, up to 375 million workers (14% of the global workforce) may need to switch occupational categories due to automation, and more recent studies expect that the share of the machine economy will be above 80% by 2040.

The promise we are being told is that we can all enjoy our time focusing on whatever it is we would like to do. Machines do the work, we lay back and relax. Sure, if we don’t make money, we cannot own anything, but we will, nevertheless, be happy - So the story.

But we forget to speak about the unimaginable power asymmetry such a scenario is creating. If we do not create value that make us irreplaceable, we destroy the foundation that hedged against tyranny for decades.

The crucial, missing element, is ownership. Economies have functioned largely because people used economic mechanisms to accumulate wealth, to own it, use it, and maximize it.

The intertwined history of economies and monetary systems has brought us to a critical juncture. The centralized control of monetary policy, combined with the rise of Big Tech and the impending automation revolution, challenges the sustainability of the current system.

As machines and AI take on more roles, the traditional premise that the economy is created by the people to serve the people must be reexamined. Without significant changes, we risk entering a future where economic value is created by and for machines, owned by a few, sidelining the many and imposing an autocratic system on the masses. In order for the economy to remain a tool for human prosperity and not an autonomous entity detached from human welfare, it needs an entirely new infrastructure, in which monetary policy and economic value are both decentralized, and in which ownership for the people in the overall economy hedges against the exercise of power of the few. This has always been the first derivative of why I have always been so passionate about crypto.

The emergence of a protocol economy

In 2009, a solution has been proposed, and while most of you out there (and for understandable reasons) doubt the value of crypto and the relevance of Web3, the solution is there - right here, right now.

Bitcoin was conceived as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, free from central authority. It operates on a blockchain, a decentralized ledger where transactions are recorded transparently and immutably. Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins contrasts sharply with fiat currencies, which can be printed at will, often leading to inflation. Sure, BTC was useless as a means of payment and has the problem of highly rigid data structure that make it extremely complicated to program and more complex economic contexts beyond pure transactions, but by providing a decentralized, secure, and deflationary ecosystem, Bitcoin laid the foundation for an alternative financial system. It promised financial sovereignty and a hedge against the erosion of wealth by inflationary monetary policies, and it fundamentally outlined that blockchain is by no means merely a technologic revolution. It is an economic revolution.

Building on Bitcoin’s foundation, Ethereum expanded the capabilities of blockchain technology. Ethereum introduced smart contracts, self-executing contracts with the terms directly written into code. This innovation allowed for the creation of decentralized applications, enabling complex economic interactions without the need for intermediaries.

Ethereum’s ecosystem facilitated the rise of decentralized finance, where traditional financial services like lending, borrowing, and trading could be accessed by anyone with an internet connection. By 2021, the total value locked in DeFi protocols exceeded $100 billion, demonstrating the massive potential of decentralized finance.

However, most of the existing protocols mainly remained somewhat self-referential, with limited integration into the real-world economy. Until real-world assets were brought onto the blockchain. This integration began to make the protocol economy more tangible, allowing for real economic activities to be conducted on-chain.

While this was a significant advancement, it remained largely within the financial sector. The protocol economy needs to extend its reach beyond finance to create real-world value. Otherwise, how are we going to tackle any of the challenges laid out above?

Making Web3 real

The challenges we laid out are neither purely financial, nor purely digital or economic. They are physical. Similar to our monetary system, Infrastructure Networks are highly centralized. These or similar networks already are a backbone of the existing machine economy, and they will, much more than you can imagine, be a back bone of the autonomous robots that we will see in the future.

If nothing changes, these robots will - as discussed - be owned by a few, very powerful people. If nothing changes, they will settle on the same, highly centralized financial infrastructure that has allowed for the emergence of big tech.

What if I tell you that there is a way to decentralize physical infrastructure as well, or that you can own the hardware, storage and compute required to power the robots, AI and virtual worlds that will so significantly shape our lives? What if I tell you that you can own a share of the infrastructure? What if I tell you that there is a new economy that does not only make Web3 and crypto applicable to the real world, but actually allows us to benefit from the emerging machine economy to catapult our wealth and well-being to new heights?

If we break it down to first principles, this is what Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePINs) are all about.

DePINs use tokens to incentivize the creation and maintenance of physical infrastructure, providing tangible goods and services. This marks a significant shift from purely digital transactions to real-world applications.

Physical Resource networks incentivize individuals to deploy location-dependent hardware to offer non-fungible, real-world goods and services. Examples include decentralized mobility networks, energy grids, and connectivity services. By leveraging the power of decentralized networks, PRNs can create resilient and efficient infrastructures that are community-owned and governed.

Digital resource networks focus on providing fungible digital resources such as storage, bandwidth, and computational power. DRNs enable individuals to contribute their digital resources to a decentralized network, earning rewards in return.

The protocol economy allows us to decentralize finance, and to decentralize ownership of infrastructure. This will enable a much more bright vision of the internet of things, a new economy of things, where our ownership in machines that settle on decentralized protocols allow for a new type of financialization.

In the Machine DeFi ecosystem, decentralized applications replace intermediaries like banks, providing financial services directly between and to machines and humans alike. But more importantly, by settling on Web3 infrastructure, they allow the machines that we own to interact with onenother in a financial way, seemlessly, and at the best of their abilities. These services include decentralized exchanges, lending and borrowing platforms, stablecoins, derivatives, automated market makers, and insurance. By enabling machines to manage their finances autonomously, Machine DeFi facilitates a seamless integration of machines into the global economy, and by the way, allows your refrigerator to decide whether to purchase the excess energy from your solar panel that your microwave did not use.

Why peaq?

The backbone of this new economic paradigm is the blockchain infrastructure. Builders of DePINs and Machine DeFi dApps can choose from various Layer-1 blockchains.

I have made my choice, and I will be joining what in my opinion is by far the most promising project in Web3. I will be joining the home for DePIN. peaq .

Sure, DePINs can build everywhere - and they do indeed build in many places. But in my opinion, DePIN and its impact are just too important to not get 100% of focus and attention. A focused layer 1, tailored for DePINs, built around their needs, is necessary in order to build, scale and nurture an ecosystem that does not just set out to make money, but to literally change the world.

The people behind peaq have acknowledged this a long time ago, and resisted every single temptation to focus on more lucrative niches, and now that DePIN is a term, they keep building what they have built before, for those who they have always built it for, and with the same, long-term conviction in mind.

Our founders Till Wendler , Leonard Dorl?chter and Max Thake have been building the infrastructure of the machine economy long before DePIN, let alone the machine economy, were a thing. They are building a home and doing that requires more than bricks, walls, windows and ceilings. A home provides everyone who calls it a home with a nurturing ecosystem of opportunities, guidance, tools, and access to resources and growth.

This focus, this conviction, compared with an outstanding team and approach that I got the privilege to better understand from the investment side, have literally made them the only infrastructure project that I would have ever considered to be joining. peaq’s value extends the boundaries of technology by far, but of course, allows for the application of the most competitive technological stack in middle ware out there.

DePINs in particular require robust and efficient network fundamentals due to their high user and machine activity. peaq's network excels in this area, supporting over 10,000 transactions per second with the potential to scale up to 100,000 TPS by 2025, and theoretically passed 1,000,000 thereafter. This impressive throughput is complemented by minimal transaction costs of just $0.00025, ensuring efficient and cost-effective operations for any DePIN.

A strong developer community and accessible technology stack are vital for the growth and success of DePINs. peaq supports both Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Substrate developers, allowing for versatile development with popular programming languages like Rust and Solidity. This accessibility attracts a wide range of developers, fostering innovation and synergy within the ecosystem.

peaq provides a suite of modular backend functions specifically tailored for DePINs, offering a significant advantage. These include peaq ID, which enables the creation of self-sovereign IDs for machines, ensuring secure interactions within and between DePINs. Other functions like peaq Access for role-based access control, peaq Pay for peer-to-peer payments, peaq Store for Web3 data storage, and peaq Verify for machine data verification enhance the operational efficiency and security of DePINs. Additionally, data indexing and AI agents further enhance data organization and autonomous operations.

Interoperability is a cornerstone of Web3, and peaq champions this principle by integrating seamlessly with leading multi-chain networks and general-purpose layer-ones such as Ethereum, Polkadot, Cosmos, Binance, and Solana. This broad connectivity ensures that peaq-based DePINs can leverage the vast opportunities and innovations across the entire Web3 ecosystem, promoting a truly interconnected and collaborative environment.

But like for every Layer 1, peaq's beating heart is its vibrant ecosystem, which supports cross-DePIN collaborations and machine composability, which is the ability for machines to operate seamlessly across multiple applications and DePINs. This fosters an environment where different DePINs can leverage each other's strengths, share resources, and co-create solutions that are greater than the sum of their parts. peaq has coined the term "Machine Composability" to describe this concept, emphasizing its commitment to maximizing the potential of connected machines within its ecosystem.

A thriving layer-1 is a trusty backbone for its ecosystem, a vibrant tapestry of projects, innovations, and collaborations. If a layer-1 provides the core baseline functionality for DePINs, its ecosystem works as a power multiplier by enabling synergistic growth and collaborations.

DePIN Ecosystem on peaq

peaq is home to the largest number of DePINs across all layer-1 blockchains. The vast array of projects building on the network focus on a diverse set of more than a dozen of industry verticals, including:

• Artificial intelligence
• Agriculture
• Airplane location tracking
• Anonymous traffic routing
• Car-sharing
• Cybersecurity
• E-health
• Energy
• Electric vehicle charging
• Mobility data collection
• Power bank sharing
• Real-time communications

On the Ecosystem page , you will find the full up-to-date list of the projects currently building their DePINs on the network and explore the peaqosystem in all of its diversity. Needless to say, such an abundance of projects is in itself a powerful edge as a layer-1 for DePIN.

Peaq is an ecosystem that grows smarter and more versatile with every DePIN joining in, and it only makes sense to explore such prospective synergies and opportunities. peaq is actively encouraging DePINs to explore such synergies and make use of the opportunities that come with them so that the rising tide can lift all boats together. Check out the legends from Silencio , XMAQUINA , Combinder , DATS Project to get a quick impression.

Enterprise Ecosystem on peaq: the demand side of DePINs

The enterprise side in DePIN is particularly important. The success of a DePIN hinges on seamless integration with physical infrastructure.

Manufacturers, with their vast expertise in producing machines and devices, stand as invaluable partners in this journey. The relationship between DePIN builders and manufacturers is inherently symbiotic. For DePINs, collaborations with manufacturers can ensure a smoother, faster adoption curve, with real-world applications becoming more accessible and efficient.

Ecosystem & People

Manfacturers benefit from a new avenue to optimize and monetize their products, ensuring they remain at the forefront of technological innovation. This relationship paves the way for a decentralized future where machinery and DePIN logic intertwine seamlessly.

Beyond machine manufacturers, a solid enterprise network is also crucial for data-focused DePINs looking to build their demand side, a critical component of their economic model. A DePIN for collecting weather data needs someone to sell it to, from research institutions to weather apps, for example. With this in mind, building in a DePIN-focused ecosystem can provide a critical edge — and peaq has just the right street cred. Building on peaq grants you access to a wide array of DePIN-relevant verticals.

peaq recognizes and champions these synergies. By providing the opportunities to collaborate and integrate, peaq aspires to be the catalyst that accelerates the fusion of the innovators, old and new, in the Economy of Things. Collaborations with industry-leading consortia, such as the EU-funded Gaia-X consortium, and partnerships with world-leading manufacturers like Bosch, underscore peaq's commitment to co-creating the future of industries like smart mobility, energy, and connectivity. Rest assured — more are in the works.

peaq's DePIN Grant Program, Support & Funding

The Peaq Foundation supports teams building DePINs on peaq with grants adding up to $100,000. Besides the funding, the program can include help with development from the team building peaq and introductions to major Web3 investors, top industry consortia, and leading enterprises. To date, more than 25 projects have enrolled in the program, and many more are under review by the Grant Committee, which includes representatives of top Web3 investors.

A new and updated version of the DePIN Grant Program is already in development. In short, in its new iteration, peaq’s grant program is more akin to a full-fledged incubator, giving DePINs everything they need to scale and succeed — and further establishing peaq as the home of DePIN. Check out the program’s page and apply now while you’re at it, that DePIN you’re dreaming of ain’t gonna build itself.

What will I be doing? And why now?

As Head of Ecosystem, my focus will be to scale the already impressive support system in terms of capital, partnerships, strategic business development and growth. Rest assured that everything we do, we do it for the projects who build on peaq. We call some of the brightest, most reputable investors in the space our friends, and I am happy to bring my network of Venture Capitalists in the Web3 and Web2 world as close as possible to our builders.

peaq's economic model is designed with the future in mind, particularly the Age of Automation. It provides incentives for machine integration and operation, recognizing that machines will play a significant role in tomorrow's decentralized networks. The concept of Machine DeFi, or decentralized finance for machines, allows for scalable growth through community-funded initiatives. This approach enables the deployment of new machines to the peaq network via crowdfunding and community-voted subsidies, making it possible for DePINs to enter markets traditionally shunned by conventional firms.

We are just at the beginning, and we will make sure that projects building on peaq will be synonymous for projects making the world a better place by creating significant economic value all around the world.

My passion for Web3 has never been a secret, and I have always been a person that needs to find meaning in what I do. The last years have allowed me to learn from some outstanding leaders, meet ambitious thinkers and innovators from all around the world, and contribute to bringing one of the largest enterprises in Europe closer to the disruption that Web3 incorporates. I am filled with gratitude towards all the opportunities and doors, Bertelsmann, and in particular Bertelsmann Investments, have opened for me. But the last couple of years came with the realization that it is not the fault of the enterprises that they are reluctant to jump on the Web3 hype-train head over heels. The truth is that it is the right thing to be cautious, and another truth - at least in my opinion - is that the vast majority of Web3 will prove to be useless over time.

But there is tremendous value in the technology that exceeds our imagination, and it is not the enterprises that must acknowledge that. It is the builders, visionaries and leaders in the space that need to show actual, sustainable value. I see this as my mission, and to say it in the words of Theodore Roosevelt: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.

In the future, you will find me in this arena. Thank you everyone at peaq for your confidence in my abilities and I am looking forward to joining your unforgettable journey.